92 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



by an open window, one of these birds approached 

 while her back was turned, and, seizing a skein 

 of some kind of thread or yarn, made off with 

 it to its half-finished nest. But the perverse yarn 

 caught fast in the branches, and, in the bird's 

 efforts to extricate it, got hopelessly tangled. 

 She tugged away at it all day, but was finally 

 obliged to content herself with a few detached 

 portions. The fluttering strings were an eye- 

 sore to her ever after, and, passing and repass- 

 ing, she would give them a spiteful jerk, as much 

 as to say, " There is that confounded yarn that 

 gave me so much trouble." 



One day in Kentucky I saw an oriole weave 

 into her nest unusual material. As we sat upon 

 the lawn in front of the cottage, we had noticed 

 the bird just beginning her structure, suspend- 

 ing it from a long, low branch of the Kentucky 

 coffee-tree that grew but a few feet away. I sug- 

 gested to my host that if he would take some 

 brilliant yarn and scatter it about upon the 

 shrubbery, the fence, and the walks, the bird 

 would probably avail herself of it, and weave a 

 novel nest. I had heard of its being done, but 

 had never tried it myself. The suggestion was 

 at once acted upon, and in a few moments a hand- 

 ful of zephyr yarn, crimson, orange, green, yel- 

 low, and blue, was distributed about the grounds. 



